Childcare or no Childcare?

[doratheexplorer]

hi forever i spose will plan out the curriculum 1st and follow up a few trials as what u say. c how it goes. thks for the advice.

[foreverj]

no prob at all! glad i could help

[Christmas]

Childcare may and may not be safe. If you are not at home , the child may break objects,the teacher may also treat the child roughly.

[Lingbel]

Hi

need some advise, currently my girl is in PCF (3 hr program-nursery 4 years old) and I decided to enroll her to full time childcare next year, K1 & K2 cause I found she is not independent enough and shy (perhaps due to not exploring much) and also my mum takes super good care of her, and insist on feeding her rather than letting her eat herself, etc)
I also think she had not been able to learn much in the afternoon, usually after nap, she will only sit down and watch TV.

My concern is will she be able to adopt to the new full time chilcare environment (eg: circle of friends which most of the classmate had mostly be there together since nursery, or perhaps playgroups)

[foreverj]

hi lingbel


there wil definitely be an adjustment period, esp change of friends and teachers. so u may want to consider if u really want your child to go thru that since she’s only left with k1 and k2, esp if she’s well settled in her kindergarten and u r so far satisfied with the school.

frankly, even if the kid is in full day cc, in the afternoon they mainly take nap, then wake up at 330pm, eat tea-break and will start lesson again at 4pm. then wil have another hour of lesson before take school bus home. so in terms of lesson time i’m not sure if fullday cc really has significantly more hours of lesson. since your child is quite old already, u may want to prepare some material for her to do in the afternoon after her nap. that way, she is kept occupied (instead of watching tv) and won’t need to go thru hassle of re-adjustment again.

this is just an idea, u need to assess yourself whether there is really a need to change school. unless u quite sure the cc is quite good, it may be fairly painful for u to change school during the last two years of your child’s pre-school years.

agree on the independence part. but in a way, kids r very smart. if at home your mum continues to do everything for her, she wil just enjoy the pampering. although no doubt she can do things herself in school, she may continue to be like now at home. so this is something u need to be aware and have reasonable expectations of.

hope the above is helpful for your consideration.

[kidsfirst]

Hi,


Would like to know what is the biggest drawing point in sending your kids to the childcare centre? It seems that many parents simply send their kids to childcare centre because they believe that this is the trend of the working parents in Singapore.

[schellen]

kidsfirst:

Hi,


Would like to know what is the biggest drawing point in sending your kids to the childcare centre? It seems that many parents simply send their kids to childcare centre because they believe that this is the trend of the working parents in Singapore.

I sent my DD when she was 4. Before that, she had already experienced short sessions like playgroup. My DH and me just wanted her to interact with peers since she's an only child and the first grandchild. I was starting to return to work part-time and I also noticed that her grandparents doted on her too much. So I chose a full-day CCC for her.

We refused to get a maid or send her to a nanny as me and my sis went through that with disastrous results. (I'm not against all maids as my cousins were lucky to have good ones when they were growing up.) My DH grew up with his maternal grandma but grandparents are older and have limited resources in certain areas.

We chose a CCC since it has to comply with laws and regulations and the yardsticks are there. Of course, CCCs are not all good. We transferred our DD from one to another at the end of K1 due to dissastisfaction with the previous one and luckily, we chose right the second time. By the time she went to P1, she was socialising well with peers and adapted to school life. Her transition to P1 was rather smooth and uneventful.

[maisy]

kidsfirst:

Hi,


Would like to know what is the biggest drawing point in sending your kids to the childcare centre? It seems that many parents simply send their kids to childcare centre because they believe that this is the trend of the working parents in Singapore.

Months ago, I struggled with this thought as well....
i heard conflicting views ...such as, the child will develop social skills , learn to be more independent and will be more outgoing in CCC... while \"the other camp\" will tell me that kindergarten is better as the curriculum is more structured and that social skills can also be picked up in 3-hourly kindergarten / playgroup setup.


In my case, my boy is being taken care of my maid with granny popping over in the afternoons for supervisory glance and i have been urged to send my kid to school as it wasn't ideal for the kid to be with the maid all day..... and i contemplated CCC earlier as honestly i didn't know the underlying differences between CCC & kindergarten then... and it didn't make much difference to me since i know i will only send my son to half-day CCC (if i ever send) ... furthermore, i knew i wanted a \"preschool which is within walking distance from home\" so that my maid can walk the kid to school instead of taking school bus.... and there is no kindergarten which is within walking distance ard my place except for 1 childcare centre.... hence the idea of sending my boy to CCC crossed my mind ...however i encountered \"quite an unpleasant incident\" during the day of my visit which made me reconsider my intention and finally , i decided to enrol my boy in a kindergarten instead (no choice i will drive him to school & he will take the school bus home).


I guess as with all other issues in life, there will always be \"2 different schools of thought\" ....for example, i know of some parents swear by CCC while some will advocate kindergarten instead of CCC. I have frens who advised me to send my kid to CCC only if i cannot arrange for alternative \"child-minding\" arrangements... eg no grandparents, no trusted help etc... And i must say that I am now somewhat a \"convert\" (hahaha)... ie i prefer the kindergarten route over the CCC route

BUT, To each his own. So, do consider your needs and requirements carefully, and choose the preschool according to your needs & requirement - most importantly , follow your instinct i guess

[kidsfirst]

Hi maisy and schellen,



Thank you for sharing the insights!

On the same note, I have two more questions:

Since we can now choose between sending kids to CCC or the ‘conventional’ kindergarten schools, how will each decision impact their primary schools admissions?

I understand that for the more ‘popular’ primary schools, they have a lot more stringent rules in assessing the kids abilities before enrolling them. In that case…would either route (CCC or kindergarten) gives more advantage over the other?

[foreverj]

kidsfirst:

Hi maisy and schellen,



Thank you for sharing the insights!

On the same note, I have two more questions:

Since we can now choose between sending kids to CCC or the 'conventional' kindergarten schools, how will each decision impact their primary schools admissions?

I understand that for the more 'popular' primary schools, they have a lot more stringent rules in assessing the kids abilities before enrolling them. In that case..would either route (CCC or kindergarten) gives more advantage over the other?

hi kidsfirst, i've never heard of primary schools assessing students for admission since all parents have to go thru the phase 1,2a,2b,2c etc admission. what examples do u have?

i believe there are merits to both ccc and kindergartens. it really depend on the circumstances and needs of the family.

in case of kindergartens, by virtue of the sheer size of each class and the history of the schools (eg. some kindergartens have been around for like 40 years????) they really emulate a primary school setting and their teachers r quite experienced, having taught in the schools for many years.

for wking parents, ccc are preferred choices as they provide more specialised care and reduce the need to park the kid in front of the TV during the afternoons just to occupy them.